Sunday, February 10, 2013

VODAFONE DON'T WANT YOUR CUSTOM

Ironic that Vodafone spends so much money on advertising to get new customers but is happy to lose a customer without a second thought.

If a customer doesn't top up in eight months they are cut off, but perhaps Vodafone should first check whether 1) calls are being to and from that phone and 2) if there is still money still the accountIn the following case, there was €15 on the account, and calls were being made.

WHAT THEY DID Cut off a pay-as-you-go phone because it wasn't topped up for eight months.

WHY FRUSTRATING?It's used as a charity number, for receiving calls mainly, not making them. It was registered five years ago to a person no longer involved, so a new person has spent a month trying to convince them to reconnect number. ANY SOLUTIONS?Vodafone said in a phonecall that they would reconnect, and also in an email, but phone still says: 'sim card registration failed' and calls to the number says: 'Number is not recognised'.

WHAT TRIED?A month of frustration: 40 minute phone calls, emails back and forth to care@vodafone.ie

WHY THIS IS WRONG?Because a lot of elderly people rely on mobile phones as security but rarely make calls from them or top them up. Young people too might only use phones for incoming calls. Irish people living overseas often like to keep an Irish mobile so that they can use it when they visit home, which may only once a year.

In this case, it was a charity contact number that was cut off.

By purging accounts in this way, Vodafone is effectively making more money out of dormant accounts - because it forces people to top up more regularly and for those that don't, it cuts them off and keeps their money.

Now Vodafone does say that if people contact them to reconnect, then their phones will be switched on straight away, but in this particularly case, it has been one month and counting...If you want to read more about Vodafone and why it cuts people off, there's an Indo article here.

TIGER ACTIONHave
emailed this blog link to Vodafone PR. Normally as soon as you take it
to PR dept, the threat of negative publicity spurs them into action. TIGER SUGGESTIONVodafone please give people a little more time, an extra few months would be nice - extend the period to a year at least.